Watchuseek Blog

Thursday, April 26, 2012

It's the year of the pilot watch, and luxury French watch brand BRM has launched a new series of watches directly inspired by the most significant fighter aircrafts of WWII: The Spitfire, the P-51 Mustang North American and the Mitsubishi Zero. Planes that would have been familiar to every schoolboy growing up in wartime.

Known as ‘Warbirds’ during World War II, these aircraft were flown by intrepid and brave young pilots. They spearheaded their nations’ air forces during the Second World War and filling history books with tales of skill and derring-do.

The BRM timepieces are crafted like a fuselage, complete with inserted rivets, propeller-shaped hands, cases featuring roundels from different countries, horns that reference exhaust pipes and harness-inspired leather straps. With this new collection, BRM once again demonstrates its deep commitment to speed, high-performance and bold engineering.

French marque BRM’s approach to a pilot’s watch is nothing if not colourful and ostentatious. Dials include the rising sun of the Japanese Imperial flag, while an American bomber a sexy lady - just like the ones painted on the fuselage of American warplanes - is to be found on another. There are inserted rivets, pushers are in the colours of each nation’s roundels, hands are propeller shaped, and horns reference exhaust pipes and harness-inspired leather straps.

The cases measure 45mm and are constructed from stainless steel or PVD coated stainless steel. As a sign of the times, the price of each Warbird is more than the cost of a Spitfire during World War II. The watches will be released later in 2012.